Teens are on the internet, but why do they rarely shop online?

It's true that it might be due to the allowance restricted by the parents, but one thing that we always miss, is due to the age limit to own or access an online banking account. It's a common teenagers' problem yet, uncommon to solve.

The limitation set has its own reasons. It is definitely not a new teenagers' problem. Let’s be real, most of us did cheat for our very first email when we first met internet, which no one cares. But, it’s a different case for online shopping.

Teens generally have their own wishlist too. Mostly on games and clothings, but they have to wait for that one-day trip to the store, or go without the parents, which is unsafe.

Despite parents seeing online shopping as a problem for teenagers, it is however, similar to physical in-store experience. In fact, it is safer when they shop at home.

At the same time, they can learn how to manage their time and finance better in the future, with more selections and discounts available online.

Based on the Internet Users Survey by MCMC (2018), those aged below 20s  have the lowest percentage of non internet users. But, the problem is, how can they shop without age limit?

How can they shop online?

Those aged 20 years old and below are still getting their allowance by cash. Even if they have a bank account at that age, some of them lack the awareness to activate their online banking account.

If your targeted customers are ranging from that age, or your products suit them, you might need to consider making the shopping experience or payment methods more age-friendly.

Basically, these are what you need:

1. Introduce special prices

Low prices attract many of us, especially the teenagers, as most of them only rely on the parents’ and school’s allowances. While their wishlist mostly consist of items that they need for their age, it is good to keep your price affordable to target their age category.

2. Integrate with the latest seamless integration

Teens are new to online shopping. Hence, they need a fairly easy website or payment design to proceed with their order. New experiences may come a little confusing, but when you integrate your website with seamless integration, it will not redirect customers to unnecessary pages. Hence, it will ease them to shop for the first time and next.

3. Introduce cash payment option

Firstly, you might want to consider including cash deposit machine (CDM) method to your customers which most instashops do. Secondly, you may integrate with cash channel for these n0n-online banking users to pay with cash at 7 Eleven which requires less hassle for customers to jot down the bank account number like CDM. Lastly, you may also hire trusted runners or agents who sit in a campus to run your cash-on-delivery service to some areas.

If you have any inquiries on how you can maximize your reach to different range of customers, do not hesitate to contact us.